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The two are guests at the opening of the first National Criminal Justice Summit hosted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) after the President, using the 30th anniversary celebration of the Makati Business Club on Thursday, slammed the Supreme Court for allegedly hobbling his reform programs.

Mr. Aquino will keynote the summit at the Manila Hotel; Corona is expected to deliver a speech for the judiciary.

“I guess we’ll have to see,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said when asked over state radio dzRB if the two will meet during the two-day gathering. “We’ll just have to wait for that particular event.”

“The President does not shy away from discussing national issues, if necessary,” Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang said in a phone interview.

“The President has every right and even the duty to express his views and sentiments on such issue of national importance,” Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said in a text message to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

The Palace and judiciary have been at loggerheads since Mr. Aquino was elected last year. The President had even refused to take his oath before Corona, a so-called “midnight” appointee of outgoing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The Chief Executive had been very vocal about his opposition to several decisions by the court, including its recent decision to allow Arroyo, now a Pampanga representative, to travel abroad for treatment of a bone ailment which De Lima defied.

Arroyo is now under hospital arrest but has questioned before the high court the constitutionality of the DOJ-Commission on Elections task force that recommended the election sabotage case filed against her that ultimately was used to justify the move to keep her under government custody.

Palace lawyers warned

Senator Joker Arroyo on Sunday said Mr. Aquino’s latest blast at the court was the handiwork of his legal advisers who must be cautioned against criticizing the high tribunal.

“I cannot blame the President for his remarks since he is not a lawyer. But he cleared his statements with his legal advisers so they should be the ones held accountable,” said the senator, who is not related to the former President.

“When government officials criticize the Supreme Court, it does not have the power to answer. And are they saying that the (12) justices appointed during the time of Gloria cannot render right judgment? That the present composition of the Supreme Court cannot make a right decision,” he asked.

“Before they speak again, they better look at history,” the senator said, referring to then President Corazon Aquino’s appointment of all 15 justices of the Supreme Court after the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution that ousted the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Senator Arroyo said that the court was then led by Claudio Teehankee, a known dissenter as an associate justice during the Marcos years.

Martial law years

The senator recalled that the late Senator Lorenzo Tañada had advised his opposition colleagues in the anti-Marcos movement to “never get personal with the Supreme Court.”

“Even during those times when we cannot expect justice from the Supreme Court, we never got personal. We were careful not to attack it even if it gives an unfavorable decision. But now, just because it issues a TRO (temporary restraining order), it is branded as a lapdog of Gloria. Is that the situation now, that they are free to attack anyone? We should be careful there,” he warned.

Senator Franklin Drilon, a known critic of Corona, stressed that the Supreme Court “is not exempted from criticism. Any lawyer can question its decisions.”

Drilon said “respect” for the Supreme Court cannot be ordered. “You should show that you deserve respect. All this is happening because of public perception that the tribunal is not an impartial arbiter.”

Arroyo faces more troubles

Suits pressed for plunder, Maguindanao massacre

Mug shots of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as shown from www. mugshots.com

As if her troubles were not enough, former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be slapped Tuesday with a civil case for her alleged role in the gruesome Maguindanao massacre, a lawyer of the victims said Monday.

Arroyo, who is under hospital arrest in Taguig City on charges of electoral sabotage, is also facing plunder charges in the Office of the Ombudsman.

A lawmaker and two other complainants said that while Arroyo had been charged with electoral sabotage, there was still a need to make her accountable for alleged acts of corruption during her nine-year tenure in Malacañang.

The three asked the Office of the Ombudsman on Monday to immediately resolve the plunder case against Arroyo over the scuttled $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal.

Harry Roque, who represents the kin of 13 media workers and two bystanders slain in the massacre on Nov. 23, 2009, said his clients would ask the Quezon City Regional Trial Court to order the former President to pay a total of P15 million in damages.

“We will file a civil case against her for her complicity in the Maguindanao massacre. She is responsible for coddling and abetting those behind the killings and for violating the rights of the victims,” Roque said in an interview.

The massacre claimed the lives of 58 people, including 33 media workers, two years ago.

Ampatuans

The government has charged members of the Ampatuan family—close allies of Arroyo when she was in power—and their supporters for the massacre.

The killings in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao province, is considered the worst election-related case of violence in the country. The remains of the 58th victim have yet to be found.

The 33 media workers were part of a convoy traveling with the wife of Esmael Mangudadatu who was going to file her husband’s certificate of candidacy. Mangudadatu’s wife was accompanied by women relatives and friends. They were all killed. Six other civilians who happened to be passing by were also killed.

While planning to formally charge Arroyo, Roque said his clients also vented their ire on President Benigno Aquino III for reportedly saying that he expected the trial of the massacre case to go beyond his term.

“The widows are really unhappy because he is the President and they expected him to do everything within his power to achieve justice in this case but, with his statement, he has thrown in the towel or raised the white flag,” Roque said.

He pointed out that the alleged election cheating machine that the Arroyo administration had in Central Mindanao began to unravel after the Maguindanao massacre.

Former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr., along with Arroyo and former Election Supervisor Lintang Bedol, had been charged with electoral sabotage in the Pasay City Regional Trial Court.

Plunder case

In the plunder complaint, also named respondents were the husband of the former President, Jose Miguel Arroyo, former Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos; and former Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza.

In an urgent motion to resolve the case, the complainants—Bayan Muna Representative Teodoro Casiño, former Gabriela Representative Liza Maza and Carol Araullo of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan—said Arroyo could use the delays in filing cases against her to her advantage.

“We are witnesses on how delay in the filing of an appropriate case could have almost allowed GMA (Arroyo) to leave the country and escape liability from her illegal acts, had the Commission on Elections not filed an electoral sabotage case,” they said.

Arroyo tried last week to fly abroad for medical treatment after the Supreme Court lifted the watch-list order against her, but she was stopped from leaving by immigration officials on orders of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

Before Arroyo could attempt to leave again, the Pasay City Regional Trial Court ordered her arrest for electoral sabotage.

Not enough

The complainants in the plunder case also said that although Arroyo was facing a criminal charge, this was not enough.

“There is still a need for the filing of information from cases like the corruption charges in the NBN-ZTE transaction,” they said.

Casiño, Maza and Araullo said the “people have waited for years for the respondents to face these charges.”

They also asked the Office of the Ombudsman not to grant any request from Arroyo for additional time to respond to the complaint, saying she had been granted an extension earlier.

If Arroyo failed to file her response at the proper time, she should be deemed to have waived her right to file it, the complainants said.

Abalos and Romulo Neri, former director general of the National Economic Development Authority, are undergoing trial in the Sandiganbayan in connection with the criminal cases filed against them for their role in the scuttled deal.

Proper process

Assistant Ombudsman Asryman Rafanan said the cases against Arroyo were undergoing the proper processes.

Rafanan said the Office of the Ombudsman would evaluate the case based on the facts. It would not file cases haphazardly and would not be moved by emotions, he said.

He also said that if the agency would file cases, it wanted to make sure these were airtight.

Last month, at her first press conference, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said she would focus on high-profile cases and would make sure that cases filed were airtight. But she also said she did not want to go berserk filing cases if there was no case just to please the public.

Arroyos will try to fly to Singapore Thursday

A FASCINATOR IT’S NOT A nurse protects the head of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as she boards an ambulance to take her back to St. Luke’s Medical Center-Global City from Naia on Tuesday. LYN RILLON

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will leave Thursday for Singapore to see an endocrinologist, her spokesperson said Wednesday.

Arroyo, now a representative of Pampanga, postponed her trip planned for Wednesday because her “elevated” blood pressure, purportedly brought about by the refusal of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to allow her and her party to leave for abroad on Tuesday night, “has not normalized yet up to this time,” Elena Bautista-Horn said.

According to Horn, Arroyo and her party will fly out Thursday for a scheduled checkup at 12:15 p.m. with an endocrinologist in Singapore.

She said Arroyo would be accompanied by her husband, Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, a nurse, a close-in aide, and two members of the couple’s respective staffs.

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) said the Arroyos had earlier booked passage on Singapore Airlines Flight SQ 919, which departed at 5:10 p.m. Wednesday.

But the airline said the reservations were voided when the couple failed to show up an hour before the scheduled flight, according to MIAA public affairs office chief Connie Bungag.

If the Arroyos intend to be in Singapore by noon Thursday, they should be in any of these flights: Philippine Airlines’ PR 511, which is to leave at around 6 a.m.; Tiger Airways’ TR 2729, 6:20 a.m.; Cebu Pacific’s 5J-801, 6:25 a.m.; and Singapore Airlines’ SQ 915, 8:10 a.m.

Glandular ailment

Horn said the meeting with the doctor was for an evaluation of Arroyo’s disease of the glands. She said the latter did not like taking too many medicines. Earlier reports said Arroyo’s medication came up to at least 25 capsules a day.

“I’m sure Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has run out of excuses. That’s Constitution 101. [On Tuesday], she said the DOJ had yet to receive the Supreme Court decision. But we’ve just learned that the department received it [Tuesday] night. So there is no more reason for her not to allow Mrs. Arroyo to leave,” Horn told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

De Lima said on Tuesday afternoon that the Arroyos would remain on the watch list of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) because she had yet to receive a copy of the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court on the travel ban on the couple.

Horn said Arroyo was still at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City Wednesday morning because the latter felt bad after being stopped from leaving by immigration authorities at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 (Naia 1).

Commenting on the government’s offer to shoulder the cost of bringing in a foreign doctor of Arroyo’s choice, Horn said the money would be better used to pay government lawyers to defend the case against her boss.

Ready for jail

Speaking at a press conference, Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. said he was ready to go to jail along with other immigration officers at the Naia if they would be charged with contempt of court for barring Arroyo from leaving the country on Tuesday night.

“I will join them in jail because this is an order of the Secretary (De Lima) given to me, which I gave to our airport supervisors and relayed to our immigration officers. All of us are in this because there is a pyramid organization in BI. If they say we will be imprisoned for a few months, we will join them. But I pity our immigration officers who were just doing their jobs,” he said.

David said he was in the office of MIAA General Manager Angel Honrado when the Arroyos arrived at the airport.

The immigration commissioner said four persons who were to accompany the Arroyos were able to board the Dragon Air aircraft but that they deplaned after learning that the couple were not allowed to leave.

David said De Lima’s verbal and written orders to enforce the watch-list order (WLO) were simple.

“I’m from the military. The instructions to me by the person above me is very easy [to obey],” he said. “It was an instruction of our superior that we believed is a lawful order. I told the airport supervisor that in order for the WLO to be lifted, there should be a directive from the DOJ to me. So [Arroyo’s] passport was not stamped and she could not take her flight.”

Sympathy for BI officers

David said a written court order instructing the immigration bureau to remove the Arroyos from the watch list was needed before the couple would be allowed to leave.

“That is why I ordered the immigration officers not to allow them to leave. If there’s an existing WLO, only [De Lima] can lift it,” he said.

According to David, the Arroyos and their entourage brought numerous copies of the TRO, and they were advised to take these to the justice department or the BI for processing.

David said that even if the Arroyos were allowed into the airport, they would not be allowed to leave because their passports would not be stamped.

“The passport was given to one immigration officer who gave it to the supervisor. It was passed around. There was no delaying tactic. Why would there be a delaying tactic when their passports won’t be stamped in the first place because of the WLO? You can’t board the plane without the stamp,” he said.

David said he thought Arroyo’s trip to the airport proved “strenuous” for her. He declined to comment on criticisms that the couple were just trying to gain public sympathy.

“My sympathy is with our immigration officers because they were just doing their jobs. We didn’t block anyone,” he said.

Don’t argue

David said he told the immigration officers at the airport not to argue with Arroyo’s lawyers.

“My instruction to them is that we cannot discuss the point of law because we’re not brilliant lawyers. Even if we have a lawyer, this is not the venue to discuss the merits. They should discuss that with the DOJ,” he said.

The Arroyos were put on the watch list on October 28 in connection with their alleged involvement in the poll fraud being investigated by DOJ and the Commission on Elections.

The order is effective for 60 days unless revoked or extended by the justice department.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Former Philippine President and current member of Congress Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, center, is assisted by her aides as they leave the airport in Manila, Philippines, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011. The Philippine government blocked former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her husband from leaving the country on Tuesday and said it will appeal a Supreme Court order that allowed them to travel abroad for medical treatment. (AP Photo/Pat Roque)

MANILA, Philippines - Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband will attempt again to leave the country today.

Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, who represents former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, made the statement after receiving information that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has received a copy of the Supreme Court's (SC) temporary restraining order (TRO), which bars the implementation of the watchlist order issued against the Mrs. Arroyo.

SC spokesman Midas Marquez said during the same television interview that the TRO was received by the DOJ this morning. Reports said that the copy of the TRO was received by DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima at past 8 a.m.

Marquez, meanwhile, said that the high court will order the DOJ to explain why it did not comply with the TRO and stopped Mrs. Arroyo and her husband from leaving the country last night.

The Arroyo couple tried, but failed to board a plane bound for Hong Kong last night. The Arroyos were supposed to take a connecting flight in Hong Kong to Singapore.

Elena Bautista-Horn, spokesperson of Mrs. Arroyo, said that they have an appointment with a specialist in Singapore on November 17 (Thursday) and they wanted to arrive one day ahead of the appointment.

Horn confirmed that from Singapore, the Arroyo couple was supposed to leave for Spain, where Mrs. Arroyo will meet with a bone marrow disorder specialist.

The Arroyos were barred by immigration and airport officers from leaving the country as ordered by De Lima, who announced yesterday that the watchlist orders issued against the couple are still in effect because the high court's TRO was not yet final and executory.

Defiance, imprisonment

Marquez, meanwhile, said during the interview that the TRO was executory, adding that the order needs no "interpretation, only application."

Quoting the TRO issued by the high court yesterday, he said that "This order is effective immediately and continuing until further orders from this court."

He added: "There is no need for interpretation. It's as clear as a sunny day; only application should be done."

Marquez said that based from reports about last night's incident at the airport, it seems that there was defiance on the part of the executive department.

"There seems to be defiance. Let's see if they will defy it again," Marquez said, referring to a possible repeat of the airport scenario with the Arroyos last night.

"I'm calling executive officials, especially those who have received copies of the TRO to implement the order," he said.

He added that under the rules of the court, those who will defy the SC's order can be held in direct contempt of court and may be punished with up to six months of imprisonment or ordered to pay a fine of not more than P30,000.

The camp of Mrs. Arroyo has threatened to ask the SC today to cite De Lima and other government officials in direct contempt of court for blocking the implementation of the TRO.

They have also threatened to file a disbarment case against De Lima.

Lawyer reiterates, Arroyos will return

In announcing her order to bar the Arroyos from leaving despite the SC’s TRO, De Lima reiterated Malacañang’s suspicion about the real motive behind the former president’s plan to immediately leave the country.

De Lima said that she was not convinced that the requirements set by the SC for Arroyo’s travel abroad are effective guarantees that she will return to the country.

Marquez, for his part, reiterated that there are several remedies to make sure that the Arroyos will return to the country to face the electoral and plunder complaints that have been filed against them.

He said that government embassies and consulates can locate the Arroyos. He added that the government can also ask the Interpol to help in locating the couple in case they try to flee.

“Marami pa namang remedy. Cancellation of passports; puwedeng tumawag sa Interpol. The world has become so small with the internet and all these things. Hindi naman sila makakapagtago ng habambuhay,” he added.

Marquez said that the possibility of the Arroyos hiding abroad was considered during the high court’s deliberation for the issuance of the TRO yesterday. He said that majority of the justices agreed that there are several remedies to prevent the Arroyos from not returning to the country.

Topacio, for his part, said that he was sure that the Arroyos will return to the country after their medical treatment abroad.

“There is the matter of personal pride,” he said, adding that the Arroyo couple would not be able to resist not seeing their children and grandchildren, who are all staying in the country.

The lawyer even joked during the television interview that he will have his "egg" removed if the Arroyos fail to return after their medical treatment abroad.

Mrs. Arroyo is currently at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig, where she was transported to after being barred from taking her flight to Hong Kong last night.

TRO propriety questionable

De Lima, meanwhile, said in a brief talk with the media today that the TRO should be revisited and discussed during oral arguments.

"The propriety of the TRO deserves a second look," she said.

In television interviews, Malacañang officials said that De Lima's order to implement the watchlist order against the Arroyo couple stays until today.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said that immigration officials will still bar the Arroyos from leaving if they attempt again to board a plane out of the country.

Lacierda said that the government is set to file an urgent motion for reconsideration on the SC's issuance of the TRO. He said that the government will insist in the petition for the conduct of oral arguments first before the issuance of the halt order.

In another interview, Transportation and Communications Secretary Mar Roxas said that he has ordered all airport officials to heed De Lima's order to continue the implementation of the watchlist order against the Arroyos.

Revillas find police conclusion unbelievable

Mother: I did not raise them to kill each other

A MOTHER’S LAMENTATION Genelyn Magsaysay weeps over the body of her eldest son Ramgen Jose Bautista as the Revilla clan rallies around her during the burial rites on Wednesday at the family-owned Angelus Memorial Garden in Imus, Cavite province. At left is Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla. LYN RILLON

IMUS, Cavite—Overcast skies and a brass band set the somber mood at the funeral Wednesday of Ramgen Jose Bautista, a scion of the Bautista-Revilla clan whose murder has been blamed on his siblings.

“[W]e are appealing, if it’s possible, [for] a reinvestigation. It’s unbelievable that [the crime] could be done by our siblings,” the senator told reporters after the funeral. “The family thinks [the conclusion of the investigation] is unbelievable. They could not have possibly done it.”

The music of the band drowned the wails of the mourners led by the mother, Genelyn Magsaysay, who had to lean on family members to keep her footing as she wept over the white casket bearing the body of her eldest son.

Among the mourners at the family-owned Angelus Memorial Park were Revilla Jr. and his wife, Cavite Representative Lani Mercado.

At 3 p.m., the officiating priest said the final prayers and Revilla Jr., a half-brother of the deceased, signaled to have the casket closed and lowered to the ground.

The senator’s son Jolo burst into tears as his uncle’s casket was closed shortly after a family member put what looked like a Johnny Walker Black Label Scotch box inside.

Ramgen Bautista (Ram Revilla in show biz), 23, was stabbed and shot in the family residence in Parañaque City late on October 28. His girlfriend, Janelle Manahan, survived the attack but remains in critical condition at a hospital in Muntinlupa City.

‘They’re innocent’

Earlier in the day, Magsaysay lamented that her younger children had been charged with the murder of their brother.

She maintained that like other families, they had their “differences” at home. But that did not mean that her children had “the capacity to kill their sibling.”

“I did not raise them to kill each other,” the mother told reporters. “I did not raise them to be rude.”

RJ and Ramona Bautista were included in the charge sheet that the police filed with the Parañaque Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday afternoon. He was arrested early on Tuesday shortly after leaving his brother’s wake; she is at large, according to police.

Two men whom witnesses had named as the gunmen—Michael Jay Cruz Altea and Roy Francis Tolisoro—were arrested on Monday.

Police are still looking for at least three other persons, the alleged coconspirators.

Magsaysay appealed to the police to find her son’s “killers,” and sought public assistance to disprove the police conclusion that her two other children were the masterminds.

She insisted on their “innocence” and said: “I don’t know who could have done this, what kind of anger they might have against us, our family.

“Please hunt down the real killers. Don’t use our family. Don’t give us the runaround.”

‘Tough for them’

Chief Inspector Fergen Torred, head of the intelligence unit of the Parañaque police, said he understood the family’s sentiment and the grief they were experiencing.

He said their sentiments had been “anticipated.”

“They lost a loved one and yet the persons responsible for that [loss] are among them. It’s tough for them,” Torred said in a phone interview.

He expressed hope that any doubts in the investigation would be settled when city prosecutors release their recommendation within the week.

Torred said that while he considered the case “closed” at this point, some investigators were still sifting through Ramgen Bautista’s text messages and other evidence and testimonies to make sure they had not left stones unturned.

He said the arrest of RJ Bautista was valid, contrary to the claim of the latter’s lawyer who had threatened to file charges against the police in a radio interview.

“If there are questions on what we did, we welcome any administrative case and we will answer that in the proper forum,” he said.

Torred also denied that the killing concerned the P1-million allowance that the siblings were reportedly receiving every month from their father, former Senator Ramon Revilla Sr.

He said that the motive of the crime was “personal” and that the charges against RJ and Ramona Bautista and at least five others were based on “credible” testimonies that the investigators had pieced together.

‘Investigate properly’

Revilla Jr. said that he would let the law “take its course” and that he was leaving the investigation to the authorities.

He said he was asking them only one thing: “Make sure you investigate properly. Make sure that what you are doing is right.”

But the senator’s talent manager, Lolit Solis, said he was “disappointed” with how the investigation went.

“Bong thinks this is the result of the family’s decision to give a P500,000 reward [for information leading to the arrest of the killers],” Solis told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

“He felt bad that their other siblings were dragged into this. He’s worried whether the two youngsters could ever recover from trauma because of this. He is asking the police to be thorough in their investigation,” she said.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

10,000 flee fighting in Mindanao

MANILA, Philippines – About 10,000 people have fled their homes amid fighting between Moro rebels and government forces in the southern Philippines, a civil defense official said Tuesday.

The displaced population accounts for about one in seven residents of the towns of Payao, Alicia and Talusan on Mindanao Island, home of a decades-old Muslim insurgency, said provincial disaster monitoring chief Adriano Fuego.

The government said the fighting and the evacuations were an offshoot of a military operation against “lawless elements” engaged in kidnappings, but Muslim rebels have alleged their forces have been attacked as well.

“There was advance news, like text messages on the cellphones they [rebels] would attack the municipalities. There were text messages going around saying other municipalities would be attacked,” Fuego told Agence France-Presse.

Residents took refuge with their relatives shortly before Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) forces moved into parts of their towns, preventing potential civilian casualties, he added.

MILF fighters occupied schools in remote areas of the southern island of Mindanao over the weekend, triggering military air strikes and a ground assault on Monday that the government said left two soldiers and six gunmen dead.

The same group of rebels targeted by the air strikes was blamed for ambushes that killed four soldiers and four policemen in the same remote area of Mindanao on Thursday last week.

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang said Tuesday that soldiers were still advancing on the positions of the gunmen in the area.

19 soldiers slain in Basilan

MILF: Our forces had edge, went for the kill

‘THEY KEPT COMING’ A soldier carries a wounded comrade airlifted by helicopter from Al-Barka, Basilan, for treatment in Zamboanga City on Tuesday. At least 19 soldiers of the Special Action Forces were killed in a clash with Moro rebels. A survivor of the ambush said they were outnumbered and overwhelmed. AP

The soldiers were running out of magazines preloaded with bullets and yet Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters kept on coming, said a member of the Army’s Special Forces who survived a nine-hour clash in Al-Barka, Basilan province.

The encounter on Tuesday left 19 soldiers dead.

Private First Class Arnel Balili said that while some 90 Moro rebels were advancing, he and 39 other members of the Special Forces had to spend time loading fresh bullets into empty magazines so they could return fire.

The soldiers were overwhelmed. “We were only 40. There were more of them,” Balili, who was among the 11 wounded soldiers, said from a hospital bed in Zamboanga City.

When the smoke cleared, 12 soldiers lay dead, among them, three junior officers.

Twelve other soldiers were wounded, one of whom would later die in a hospital, and 10 more were initially declared missing but an MILF official said six of the missing soldiers were found dead yesterday.

Command conference

The encounter prompted President Benigno Aquino III to call for a command conference with the military and police.

“I have called for a command conference on Friday when the secretary of national defense arrives to precisely tackle the issue,” the President said in a short statement.

The command conference will be held in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

In a statement, Lieutenant General Raymundo Ferrer, head of the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), confirmed that 19 soldiers were killed in the encounter that lasted from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Flags were flown at half-staff in Camp Aguinaldo and all other major military camps in honor of the slain soldiers.

6 rebels killed

Mohagher Iqbal, MILF spokesperson, gave a bigger number of military fatalities. Iqbal said the military lost 22 men and the MILF six members.

In Camp Aquinaldo, the Army spokesperson, Colonel Antonio Parlade, said wounded soldiers reported that they saw their comrades captured alive after running out of ammunition.

“They were captured and then killed. So they murdered the six,” Parlade said.

He said one soldier remained missing and a wounded soldier was rescued by Scout Rangers.

Iqbal said no soldier was being held hostage in Al-Barka.

The bodies of the six soldiers had been retrieved by members of the Al-Barka police, he said.

Trap

Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, the spokesperson of Westmincom based in Zamboanga City, said the soldiers were sent to Al-Barka to check reports that armed men, including Dan Laksaw Asnawi, were holding kidnap victims.

Asnawi was among those involved in the beheading of 14 Marines during a 2007 clash, also in Al-Barka. He was arrested in the aftermath of the beheading but escaped from the Basilan provincial jail in December 2009 with 30 other inmates.

Cabangbang said the armed men indeed included Asnawi, who the MILF confirmed was an MILF commander under the 114th Base Command.

Silent, empty road

Balili said that while his group was on its way to Barangay Cambug at around 6 a.m. to check on the presence of armed men, the surroundings were eerily silent and the road was almost empty.

He said his group met only four people along the way and had no idea that the armed men were just nearby. “We were almost surrounded by then,” he said.

When the firing started, Balili said the soldiers were overwhelmed by the sheer number of the rebels. “We were not running out of bullets. But we had to load them into empty magazines to be able to continue firing,” he said.

Rebels knew terrain

Iqbal said only a platoon of MILF rebels fought the soldiers in Al-Barka. A platoon has about 30 men.

He said the MILF recovered 22 firearms—four M-203 rifles, five machine guns and 13 M-16 rifles from the soldiers.

Iqbal said the soldiers were not even outnumbered. “It so happened that our forces were better positioned and they knew the terrain,” he said.

Cabangbang acknowledged that the soldiers had problems with the terrain. He also said that some of the soldiers sent to the area were still undergoing scuba training, which has nothing to do with land combat.

Cabangbang said reinforcements were sent to the area to help the embattled Special Forces soldiers. The military also pounded the position of the rebels until late evening while the bodies of the slain soldiers remained uncollected from the encounter site.

Asked why it took the military 18 hours to retrieve the bodies, Cabangbang said the area had to be secured first.

He said Scout Rangers were then sent deeper into the area to retrieve the bodies. These had to be carried to a pickup area on foot.

The bodies were then flown to Tabiawan in Isabela City before they were shipped to Zamboanga City.

At about 10 a.m., the bodies of the soldiers were unloaded from a Navy boat at the Majini Pier inside the Naval Forces Westmin headquarters as the Army chief, Lieutenant General Arturo Ortiz, was having a closed-door meeting with Ferrer.

Blame game

Iqbal said the military should be faulted for what happened in Al-Barka.

“It was a deliberate attack by the military and we are filing a protest-complaint before the International Monitoring Team and ceasefire committees against the military for truce violation,” he said.

Iqbal said the Al-Barka encounter showed that the military had no regard for the peace process. He cited the October 15 clash in Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay, which he said was also prompted by a military attack.

No intrusion

In Al-Barka, the military knew it was assaulting an MILF camp and not just a temporary position of the MILF, Iqbal said.

Cabangbang said the troops did not intrude on a rebel stronghold and were about 4 kilometers from it when they were fired upon by the rebels, prompting the troops to fight back.

The military operation was supposed to be “strike and withdraw,” he said.

In a statement, Ferrer said the military was not at fault.

“It is apparent that the encounter took place outside of the MILF’s area of temporary stay,” he said.

Ferrer said this belied the MILF statement that the military violated the ceasefire accord. On the contrary, he said the MILF should be held liable for what occurred on Tuesday.

As of Wednesday, some 1,500 civilians had left their homes because of shelling by the military, said Basilan Vice Gov. Al Rasheed Sakalahul.

The 11,000-strong MILF has waged a rebellion since 1978 for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao.

Malaysian-brokered peace talks between the rebels and the Philippine government received a major boost in August when President Aquino met MILF chair Murad Ebrahim in Tokyo to bolster the negotiations.

The rebels, however, rejected a government proposal for Muslim autonomy when talks resumed a few weeks later in Malaysia but they said they would continue with the talks.

The rebellion has left about 150,000 people dead, with most of the deaths occurring in the 1970s when an all-out war raged.

Italian missionary’s slay shocks Church

Lone gunman kills priest near convent

30 YEARS IN MINDANAO Undated handout photo of Italian missionary Fausto Tentorio who was shot dead outside a church in Arakan, North Cotabato, by a lone gunman armed with a pistol equipped with a silencer. PHOTO COURTESY OF PIME

ARAKAN, North Cotabato—Eight years ago, he eluded anticommunist gunmen by hiding inside a small cabinet made of bamboo. On Monday, a lone assassin with a gun equipped with a silencer shot him eight times as he was getting into his pickup truck outside a convent.

In a broad daylight murder that stunned members of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as government officials, Italian missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio—fondly known as “Father Pops”—was gunned down in a church compound in Arakan town while a flag-raising ceremony was going on nearby.

The gunman, wearing a crash helmet, casually walked to a motorcycle waiting near the Mother of Perpetual Help church compound and sped away with a companion, witnesses said.

Tentorio, 59, was declared dead at the hospital—the third Italian priest and the third member of the Vatican-run Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) to have been killed in Mindanao in the past 26 years.

He had been working as a missionary in Mindanao for more than three decades.

Sources at the PIME said Tentorio had been receiving death threats from some groups since two years ago, prompting him at one point, when he was out of the country, to postpone his return to the Philippines for a few months.

Malacañang, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and members of the Roman Catholic Church in the country condemned the murder. The Department of Justice also ordered an immediate investigation.

Police said among those they would interview were Tentorio’s colleagues and other possible witnesses, including teachers at a preschool within the church compound who were at a flag-raising ceremony when the attack took place.

Tentorio was about to board his pickup at around 7:30 a.m. to attend a meeting of the clergy in the capital city of Kidapawan, 30 kilometers away, when the gunman approached him and fired, according to Arakan Councilor Leonardo Reovoca, a former parish worker.

Tentorio suffered eight bullet wounds from a gun of still unknown caliber.

Pastorally active

“I rushed to where he was and I saw him on the ground, blood oozing from his body,” Reovoca said.

The town councilor said he spoke with Tentorio on Sunday night and saw “nothing unusual” about him. “I cannot think of any reason why he should die this way,” Reovoca said in a radio interview.

Tentorio was a staunch antimining advocate since he started his parish work in Arakan, Reovoca said, adding that the Italian priest opposed “projects which are unsustainable and would harm the indigenous peoples.”

ARAKAN ATROCITY

Fr. Giulio Mariani, a spokesperson for PIME’s regional diocese, said Tentorio arrived in the Philippines in 1978, a year after being ordained in Italy.

He said Tentorio had dedicated his life to helping local tribesmen and other disadvantaged people. “He gave them dignity and he was very pastorally active among the poor.”

Bagaforo said priests from Kidapawan, where the communist New People’s Army (NPA) operated, said the killing could have been done either by those “underground” or by a rightist group.

“There are many rightist armed groups that are offended by the work for justice being done by the Church, especially Father Fausto, who is a director for tribal Filipinos. That was his advocacy,” Bagaforo said.

Two other PIME missionaries were killed while assigned in separate areas in Mindanao several decades ago.

Fr. Tulio Favali was brutally murdered by militiamen led by Norberto Manero in 1985 in North Cotabato, while Fr. Salvatore Carzedda was killed in Zamboanga in 1992.

Death threats

Mariani said Tentorio, like other missionaries in Mindanao, had received death threats and his murder may have been linked to his efforts to help the tribespeople.

“Missionaries have always been the voice of the poor and, if you work on their behalf, sometimes you are bound to step on the toes of those who have other interests,” he said.

Founded in 1926, PIME missionaries work in 17 countries around the world, mainly in areas where there are conflicts and political turmoil, according to its website.

Mariani said there were at least 20 PIME priests in the Philippines, most of whom were in Mindanao.

PNP investigating

As of 4 p.m. Monday, the Italian Embassy had not issued a statement. An embassy source said it was still awaiting the official police report.

Malacañang on Monday night said the Philippine National Police was now looking into the murder.

He said President Benigno Aquino III was aware of the murder and had been told by Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo that he was now investigating the killing.

The DFA condemned the murder “in the strongest terms.”

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario offered his “sincerest condolences to (Tentorio’s) family and to his congregation” and added: “We call on the police to immediately bring the perpetrators of this dastardly act to justice.”

Rosales asked PNP Director General Nicanor Bartolome to “give full attention” to solving the murder.

Rosales did not rule out the possibility that Tentorio’s mission to protect the indigenous peoples had put his life in danger.

“Advocates critical of big mining operations are gunned down with impunity while rebels demand higher taxes from these businesses at the risk of having their equipment burned. The PNP must step up its operations to protect innocent lives,” she added.

Tentorio had been in the Philippines for 33 years.

He was first assigned in the Archdiocese of Zamboanga in 1978. He was transferred to the Diocese of Kidapawan in 1980 and assigned as mission administrator in the parish of Columbio in the province of Sultan Kudarat. In 1985, he was transferred to the mission station of Arakan.

Killing the dream

North Cotabato Governor Emmylou Lala Taliño Mendoza vowed to work with other authorities to arrest the perpetrators of the killing.

In a statement, Bishop Romulo dela Cruz, D.D., of the Diocese of Kidapawan asked the parishioners of Arakan to remain calm and added: “May God touch the hearts of the perpetrator.”

Norma Capuyan, chairperson of the Apo Sandawa Lumadnong Panaghiusa sa Cotabato (ASLPC), said the assassin not only killed a priest but also the dreams of indigenous peoples who were scholars of the slain priest.

“He was the only hope of the indigenous peoples in Arakan. He was a father and a mentor to them. He sent them to high school and college,” Capuyan said.

The Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), a religious order, also denounced the killing.

Describing Tentorio as a missionary who selflessly worked to help the indigenous peoples and the poor farmers, Lauro de Guia, OMI provincial superior, said: “We are saddened that there are sectors in our society who are against our work to help bring about peace in Mindanao.”

In Zamboanga City, Claretian priest Angel Calvo said the killing of Tentorio “confirmed once more that working for justice and peace is risky and dangerous in some parts of the country.”

Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad said: “It is always painful when someone, a man of the cloth, is killed. We ask that his death be given justice and perpetrators immediately arrested and made accountable for the crime.”

Italian missionary’s slay shocks Church

Lone gunman kills priest near convent

30 YEARS IN MINDANAO Undated handout photo of Italian missionary Fausto Tentorio who was shot dead outside a church in Arakan, North Cotabato, by a lone gunman armed with a pistol equipped with a silencer. PHOTO COURTESY OF PIME

ARAKAN, North Cotabato—Eight years ago, he eluded anticommunist gunmen by hiding inside a small cabinet made of bamboo. On Monday, a lone assassin with a gun equipped with a silencer shot him eight times as he was getting into his pickup truck outside a convent.

In a broad daylight murder that stunned members of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as government officials, Italian missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio—fondly known as “Father Pops”—was gunned down in a church compound in Arakan town while a flag-raising ceremony was going on nearby.

The gunman, wearing a crash helmet, casually walked to a motorcycle waiting near the Mother of Perpetual Help church compound and sped away with a companion, witnesses said.

Tentorio, 59, was declared dead at the hospital—the third Italian priest and the third member of the Vatican-run Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) to have been killed in Mindanao in the past 26 years.

He had been working as a missionary in Mindanao for more than three decades.

Sources at the PIME said Tentorio had been receiving death threats from some groups since two years ago, prompting him at one point, when he was out of the country, to postpone his return to the Philippines for a few months.

Malacañang, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and members of the Roman Catholic Church in the country condemned the murder. The Department of Justice also ordered an immediate investigation.

Police said among those they would interview were Tentorio’s colleagues and other possible witnesses, including teachers at a preschool within the church compound who were at a flag-raising ceremony when the attack took place.

Tentorio was about to board his pickup at around 7:30 a.m. to attend a meeting of the clergy in the capital city of Kidapawan, 30 kilometers away, when the gunman approached him and fired, according to Arakan Councilor Leonardo Reovoca, a former parish worker.

Tentorio suffered eight bullet wounds from a gun of still unknown caliber.

Pastorally active

“I rushed to where he was and I saw him on the ground, blood oozing from his body,” Reovoca said.

The town councilor said he spoke with Tentorio on Sunday night and saw “nothing unusual” about him. “I cannot think of any reason why he should die this way,” Reovoca said in a radio interview.

Tentorio was a staunch antimining advocate since he started his parish work in Arakan, Reovoca said, adding that the Italian priest opposed “projects which are unsustainable and would harm the indigenous peoples.”

ARAKAN ATROCITY

Fr. Giulio Mariani, a spokesperson for PIME’s regional diocese, said Tentorio arrived in the Philippines in 1978, a year after being ordained in Italy.

He said Tentorio had dedicated his life to helping local tribesmen and other disadvantaged people. “He gave them dignity and he was very pastorally active among the poor.”

Bagaforo said priests from Kidapawan, where the communist New People’s Army (NPA) operated, said the killing could have been done either by those “underground” or by a rightist group.

“There are many rightist armed groups that are offended by the work for justice being done by the Church, especially Father Fausto, who is a director for tribal Filipinos. That was his advocacy,” Bagaforo said.

Two other PIME missionaries were killed while assigned in separate areas in Mindanao several decades ago.

Fr. Tulio Favali was brutally murdered by militiamen led by Norberto Manero in 1985 in North Cotabato, while Fr. Salvatore Carzedda was killed in Zamboanga in 1992.

Death threats

Mariani said Tentorio, like other missionaries in Mindanao, had received death threats and his murder may have been linked to his efforts to help the tribespeople.

“Missionaries have always been the voice of the poor and, if you work on their behalf, sometimes you are bound to step on the toes of those who have other interests,” he said.

Founded in 1926, PIME missionaries work in 17 countries around the world, mainly in areas where there are conflicts and political turmoil, according to its website.

Mariani said there were at least 20 PIME priests in the Philippines, most of whom were in Mindanao.

PNP investigating

As of 4 p.m. Monday, the Italian Embassy had not issued a statement. An embassy source said it was still awaiting the official police report.

Malacañang on Monday night said the Philippine National Police was now looking into the murder.

He said President Benigno Aquino III was aware of the murder and had been told by Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo that he was now investigating the killing.

The DFA condemned the murder “in the strongest terms.”

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario offered his “sincerest condolences to (Tentorio’s) family and to his congregation” and added: “We call on the police to immediately bring the perpetrators of this dastardly act to justice.”

Rosales asked PNP Director General Nicanor Bartolome to “give full attention” to solving the murder.

Rosales did not rule out the possibility that Tentorio’s mission to protect the indigenous peoples had put his life in danger.

“Advocates critical of big mining operations are gunned down with impunity while rebels demand higher taxes from these businesses at the risk of having their equipment burned. The PNP must step up its operations to protect innocent lives,” she added.

Tentorio had been in the Philippines for 33 years.

He was first assigned in the Archdiocese of Zamboanga in 1978. He was transferred to the Diocese of Kidapawan in 1980 and assigned as mission administrator in the parish of Columbio in the province of Sultan Kudarat. In 1985, he was transferred to the mission station of Arakan.

Killing the dream

North Cotabato Governor Emmylou Lala Taliño Mendoza vowed to work with other authorities to arrest the perpetrators of the killing.

In a statement, Bishop Romulo dela Cruz, D.D., of the Diocese of Kidapawan asked the parishioners of Arakan to remain calm and added: “May God touch the hearts of the perpetrator.”

Norma Capuyan, chairperson of the Apo Sandawa Lumadnong Panaghiusa sa Cotabato (ASLPC), said the assassin not only killed a priest but also the dreams of indigenous peoples who were scholars of the slain priest.

“He was the only hope of the indigenous peoples in Arakan. He was a father and a mentor to them. He sent them to high school and college,” Capuyan said.

The Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), a religious order, also denounced the killing.

Describing Tentorio as a missionary who selflessly worked to help the indigenous peoples and the poor farmers, Lauro de Guia, OMI provincial superior, said: “We are saddened that there are sectors in our society who are against our work to help bring about peace in Mindanao.”

In Zamboanga City, Claretian priest Angel Calvo said the killing of Tentorio “confirmed once more that working for justice and peace is risky and dangerous in some parts of the country.”

Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad said: “It is always painful when someone, a man of the cloth, is killed. We ask that his death be given justice and perpetrators immediately arrested and made accountable for the crime.”

Thursday, October 6, 2011

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is keeping its distance from pronouncements by Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes that former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo might spend Christmas in jail if indicted for election sabotage.

“Malacañang is hands off on the matter because they are still appreciating, evaluating the evidence. So let’s wait for that. We are also awaiting the results of their investigation,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a press briefing yesterday.

“We are not privy to the deliberations going on in the task force. So it’s a statement made by Brillantes. So we don’t know the stage at which they are right now.”

A joint Comelec-Department of Justice (DOJ) task force is establishing probable cause to charge the Arroyo couple with election sabotage for allegedly masterminding cheating in the 2007 senatorial elections.

Lacierda stressed there would be no special treatment for the Arroyos if they are indicted and detained for a non-bailable election offense.

“These are being studied. We don’t know what the status is right now. We don’t even know when it’s going to happen. But, nonetheless, everyone has to go through the legal process. If it is filed before the courts, it will be subject to the discretion of the courts and once it’s filed with the court, we know that we’re all hands off when it comes to that,” Lacierda said.

He said he he did not know why Brillantes made such a statement.

“Maybe because he’s involved in the task force, he is in a better position to dictate the pace by which the task force is undergoing the investigation,” Lacierda said. “So I leave it to them.”

Obvious bias

Meanwhile, the lawyer of Mr. Arroyo said yesterday Brillantes should resign for his obvious bias against his client.

Lawyer Inocencio Ferrer said Brillantes, who is leading a joint investigation with the DOJ on alleged electoral fraud committed by his client and Mrs. Arroyo, cannot be trusted to make a fair judgment because of his repeated public statements even when the probe is not finished.

He also cited reports that Brillantes was election lawyer for various opposition candidates against the previous administration as well as the notorious Ampatuan clan in the past elections.

“Brillantes should resign because his public pronouncement of the guilt of the Arroyos and his statement that the Arroyos will spend Christmas in jail before any complaint has been filed and prior to a trial have clearly shown his bias, prejudgment and clear conflict of interest,” Ferrer said in a text message.

“He should resign to protect the institution of the Comelec,” he said.

Brillantes earlier said the testimony of former Maguindanao provincial administrator Norie Unas could help prove the Arroyos’ involvement in alleged manipulation of votes.

He reiterated yesterday that the statement of Unas is strong and only his former boss, former Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., can disprove it.

In his sworn affidavit, Unas alleged that Mrs. Arroyo had ordered Ampatuan to rig the elections in Maguindanao in favor of her Team Unity (TU) senatorial bets. – With Paolo Romero, Sheila Crisostomo

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Prayer Request From sis Pia Go Olano

Prayer Request

Please pray for my mom. She's been going in and out of the hospital lately because of difficulty in breathing due to congested lungs. She's also undergoing dialysis three times a week.

Please pray for my dad too. He has lung cancer.

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Let Us All Pray For Japan

A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 8.9 on the Richter scale hit Japan yesterday unleashing a powerful tsunami that brought a wide swath of destruction in many parts of Japan. Total loss of lives and damages to properties and infrastructures are still being collated as of this moment. The damages have been so severe that most part of Tokyo and major parts of Japan are without electricity. Fire were burning simultaneously in many parts of Japan including an oil refinery. WE ENJOIN OUR READERS TO PLEASE PRAY FOR JAPAN AND THE SURVIVORS OF THIS TRAGEDY. ONLY GOD CAN HELP THEM RECOVER FROM THIS TRAGIC AND CATASTROPHIC EVENT. GOD BLESS US ALL.

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